Bankhead Theater is the centerpiece of Livermore's downtown, the culmination of a years-long revitalization that turned First Street from a hick hangout into a suburban esplanade.

But the Bankhead isn't Livermore's first performing arts center, nor its cultural debut. It was the May School Theater, a one-room 19th century schoolhouse-turned-playhouse, that made a dramatic opening statement.

That was more than 50 years ago, when my dad, who started the Cask & Mask Players with Mom and friends, directed "The Mikado." I was born a year later and have grown up with this town whose roots are strong, in ways both visible and hidden.

With a downtown that might appear, as historian Anne Homan acknowledges, a "mishmash" of old and new, it's really all of a piece. The wide sidewalks and lack of parking does not diminish our cow-town past.

"We still have a horse in front of Baughman's," says Homan, referring to the life-size replica that's fronted Baughman Western Outfitters for decades.

Homan, who wrote "Historic Livermore, California," points to Blacksmith Square as an example of the town's provincial heritage. Home to Schrader's Blacksmith Shop more than 100 years ago, it's now a boutique plaza with olive oil and wine tasting rooms.

Other institutions remain unchanged. I remember making 2 a.m. runs with my high school buddies to the Donut Wheel, opened in 1941, for warm plain cakes fresh out of the fryer. Now, however, I'm more likely to head to Peet's Coffee, the downtown debutante of 2005, for a morning bun and latte.

Joan Seppala, who has published the Independent for 50 years, and once used the Donut Wheel as a de facto office, now works at the "less fattening" Peet's.

"I pay rent," she says, pointing to her coffee cup and yogurt.

Seppala has plenty of space in the historic 19th century Bank of Italy building across from Peet's, which the Independent took over in 1991, but she prefers to be out in the community.

A big part of why Seppala was drawn to this community was the scene she witnessed at First Street's Club 1079, now known as the Livermore Saloon.

"I became fascinated with all the cowboys - boots on, the whole thing - drinking beer, right next to lab scientists playing chess and drinking wine."

It was employees of the Livermore National Laboratory who fueled an initiative to limit sprawl, a movement fanned by the Independent and enacted by the City Council. This effort, Seppala says, focused developer dollars and energy into downtown rather than into urban growth, leading to the renaissance of First Street, and the revitalization of its restaurants.

When Yin Yin Restaurant, a Livermore institution once run by the family of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, opened in 1960, dishes like ginger beef, shrimp Louie and pineapple spareribs could be had for $1.

The Chinese American restaurant still does a good business, known for its creamy walnut prawns and serving overflowing plates at lunch for $6. Andy Yuen, who has owned the restaurant for 11 years and has seen three generations of families come to dine, recalls one grandfather asking, "Where's my booster seat?"

When Uncle Yu's at the Vineyard opened at the intersection of First Street and North Livermore Avenue in 2006, it was Livermore's most elegant downtown restaurant. Partner and wine director Nick Liang offers three- and six-course "Chef and Sommelier Tasting Menus." Peking duck is $32, and the irresistible orange beef is laced with Grand Marnier.

That these two Chinese restaurants coexist gives you a flavor of how the old informs the new. And it engenders nostalgia for a time when even fast food felt slow.

Old First Street, where an A&W Root Beer once stood, still remains. And then there's Loard's Ice Cream. The now-antique ice cream parlor is on Second Street, but a second Loard's appeared on First Street just a few months ago, giving 1st Treat Yogurt competition, and perhaps serving scoops for another 50 years.

Early fast food memories centered on Foster's Old-Fashioned Freeze, where on scorching August afternoons my brother and I would order fat french fries and soft-serve chocolate-dipped ice cream cones from the sliding service window. Foster's Freeze, which Homan calls Livermore's original fast food joint (it opened in 1954), is still there, but the place has gone soft with a colorful, air-conditioned sit-down eating area.

Nostalgia also abounds at the 57-year-old Vine Theater, which nearly closed when Livermore 13 Cinemas opened alongside the Bankhead. The Vine has found new life by installing couches, showing independent films and serving wine, beer and food from Zephyr, the adjacent restaurant.

"The city does make a real effort to make changes that preserves some of the old characteristics," Homan says.

When the Independent took a "no growth" stand, most downtown business interests boycotted the paper. At the time, the 12- to 32-page paper was printed three times a week. Then advertising plummeted.

"Poof! It was gone," says Seppala, who was forced to scale back to six pages once a week.

But Seppala believes it was the citizens' stand against sprawl, and the implementation of an urban growth boundary, that eventually led to the downtown that Livermore now enjoys.

In just the past 18 months, the openings of El Sacromonte, Double Barrel Wine Bar and the Winemaker's Pourhouse have helped Livermore's claim as a wine-and-dine destination. The Bankhead Theater, the Livermore Shakespeare Festival, the Livermore Valley Opera and the Pacific Chamber Symphony are just some of the players in the town's cultural renaissance.

With one foot in the past and one in the future, Livermore seems to have found an attractive combination.